Method and apparatus for processing textile fibers



E. SCHUTZ Aug. 9, 1960 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING TEXTILE FIBERS Filed 001;. 21, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 3

INVENTOR Erwin S a} JV):

Aug. 9, 1960 E. SCHUTZ 2,948,025

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING TEXTILE FIBERS Filed Oct. 21, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a! fgg United States PatentO METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING TEXTILE FIBERS Erwin Schiitz, Kaiserslautern, Germany, assignor to Kammgamspinnerei Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, a firm of Germany i The present invention relates to amethod and apparatus for processing textile fibers in the combing and/or roving rooms.

The processing of natural textile fibers, such as wool, cotton, or the like, and of synthetic fibers made from viscose polyamide, polyacrylic nitrile, or other suitable synthetic materials to produce yarn usually requiresnumerous machines which are arranged one behind the other and process the fibrous material in successive operations so as to equalize, refine, or attenuate the sameto form an intermediate product, that is, the roving, which can then be fed to the fine-spinning machine for further processing. Thus, for example, for processing the fibers which have been loosened in the carding machine, several operations are required in the combing room which have to be carried out between the steps of delivering the card sliver and feeding the same to the combing machine in order to place the fibers in a parallel position to. each other. Similarly, it is necessary, subsequent to the processing in the combing machine, to provide a series of separate processing stages before the first intermediate product, the slivers, will be attained. In the roving room it is likewise necessary to carry out a series of operations on successive machines until the desired intermediate product, the roving, will be attained. The processing of synthetic fibers also requires a considerable nurnber of processing stages and the conditions are therefore similar to those applying to natural fibers. In all of the processing methods presently known, it is necessary for various reasons to interrupt the proceedings between the individual steps and they are therefore intermittent rather than continuous. Thus, for example, the process of mixing fibers of different origin or material into one product can usually not be carried out on a single head of a processing machine. For maintaining the pnoper mixing ratio it is essential that all slivers from the heads of one processing machine which contain the entire mixture are fed together to a head of the next processing machine. The compensation of variations in the weight of the slivers can also be carried out only by an equalization of the slivers when passing from one pnocessing stage to the other by doubling the slivers several times. The necessity may also arise that the direction of processing has to be changed in order to attain the required uniformity of the slivers. Interruptions between the individual stages are furthermore necessary because, as the slivers are progressively attenuated, the following processing m'achine must be provided with an increasing number of delivery heads or spindles.

In the known processing methods, the slivers which are delivered from one machine are brought into a form which permits them to be passed at a relatively great weight to the next processing machine where, after being doubled as required, they may be applied once or several times or be run off. In order to convey the slivers from one machine to another, they are usually either wound up on spools or bobbins which are provided with 2,948,025 ,Patented Aug. 9, 1960 a parallel or cross winding or they are deposited in socalled spinning cans either by means of or without special coiling devices. The bobbins or spinning cans which are wound or filled in this manner are usually moved to the next machine either by hand or by conventional conveying means.

These processing methods 'always require an interruption when the spool or bobbin has been wound to capacity or when the spinning can has been filled. Since in the operation of the known machines the exchange of filled bobbins or spinning cans can usually be carried out only when the respective machine is stopped, such exjchange causes considerable interruptions which will'be the longer the more heads there are in the respective machine and the more full bobbins or spinning cans there are which have to be replaced by empty bobbins or cans.

Aside from the loss in "time, these processing methods have further disadvantages due to the fact that the slivers may be damaged and valuable raw material may be lost when the bobbins or spinning cans are being passed from one processing stage to the other. Also, unless special personnel is employed solely for carrying the bobbins or spinning cans from one machine to the other, this must be done by the operators of the machines themselves with the result that additionally for this reason the machines must be stopped or, if they are to continue running, they must be left entirely unattended during the time of the exchange. Furthermore, the use of spinning cans has the disadvantage that it requires considerable space for storing the necessary supply thereof, apart from the fact that the cans themselves are subject to considerable wear.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a spinning method which will overcome all of the above-mentioned disadvantages of the methods previously known but will retain all of the advantages thereof, and which will be much more economical and less expensive than the known methods.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for passing at least one sliver which is received from one processing machine by means of a suitable-conveying device to the next machine, for temporarily depositing it at the inlet side thereof in relatively great lengths, and for then feeding it into thenext processing machine.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method whereby a number :of slivers which are delivered parallel to each other from one processing machine are passed to the next machine and deposited at the inlet side thereof.

An apparatus for carrying out this new method consists'in providing a suitable conveying mechanism of a type which may be known as such at a point adjacentto the delivering processing machine, and designed for receiving at least one sliver from said machine, and in further providing-a depositing mechanism above at least two large containers at a point adjacent to the inlet side of the next processing machine. According to the present is adapted to swing back and forth about its upper end and supports a pair of conveyer belts which carry the sliver between them and thus feed the sliver into one container and deposit the same therein in a zigzag formation.

Another object and feature of the present invention consists in the provision of suitable means for adapting the speed of movement of the conveying means of the depositing device to the feeding speed of the sliver or roving which varies in accordance with the reciprocating movement of the traveling carriage, and for thus preventing any straining or distortion of the sliver due to tension thereon or damming up or buckling thereof. For this purpose, the conveying means of the depositing device are adapted to be driven in accordance with the variation in the feeding speed. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, such variable drive may be attained by providing the traveling carriage of the depositing device with a drive pulley around which the feeding eonveyor belt is lQ Ped, while the traveling carriage may be moved back and forth along its tracks by means of a separate drive mechanism.

The present invention thus permits the slivers which are delivered from one processing machine to be deposited at the next machine in a continuous or substantially continuous operation. A short interruption in the operation of the machine may only be required if the large containers are arranged side by side rather than behind each other, and when one container has been filled and the sliver or roving has to be passed to the other container. The feeding and insertion of the sliver or roving into the next processing machine may likewise be continuous or almost continuous since that machine needs to be stopped only when one of the large containers has become empty. However, even such short interruption may be avoided if the start of the sliver from the next large container .can be connected to the end of the sliver from the container which is becoming empty by means of a suitable device such as a spreader.

Apart from overcoming the disadvantages of the known processing methods, the method according to the invention also has the advantage of being easily adapted to each individual case which may occur. It is thus possible to adapt the doubling or stretching of the slivers, or the delivery speed thereof to the particular type of textile fibers to be processed.

Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, particularly when read with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 illustrates a diagrammatic plan view of the apparatus according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a partial front view of the same apparatus; while Fig. 3 illustrates a partial side view of the same apparatus.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates that the slivers 2 to 7 which are delivered from the individual heads of the drawing frame 1 are combined in a channel 8 to form a sliver unit 9 which is then passed to a depositing mechanism, for example, by means of a conveyer belt or other suitable conveying means. The depositing mechanism takes over the sliver unit 9 from the conveyor belt or similar conveying means, and then deposits the same in one of several large containers 10 which are disposed at the inlet side of the next following processing machine.

The depositing mechanism to which the sliver unit is fed consists of at least one pendulum-like feeding unit which is mounted above the large container 10 which is to be filled. For feeding the roving or sliver unit 9 to the pendulum feeder, an overhead two-rail runway 12 is rigidly niounted on posts 11 and extends along the length of the containers 10. An endless conveyor belt 14 which is adapted to convey the sliver unit 9 continuously from channel 8 to the pendulum feeder is supported on a plurality of guide rollers 13 on posts 11 and a corresponding reversing roller 13' at the end of runway 12, and it is driven ata constant rate of speed by suitable means not shown in the drawings. A traveling carriage 15 is capable of riding on runway 12 so as to move back and forth along the entire length of the respective container 10 to be filled. For thus purpose, carriage 15 is provided with a separate reversible drive motor (not shown), and the runway 12 is provided with limit switches at a point above each end of container 10 so that when carriage 15 has reached one end of container 10, it will engage one limit switch, whereby the direction of rotation of its motor will be reversed whereupon the carriage will then move in the opposite direction toward the other end of container 10 where its movement will again be reversed by engaging the other limit switch.

Carriage 15 supports a guide roller 16 which is rotatably mounted therein in a position diagonal to the direction of movement of conveyor belt 14 and above the latter. At the beginning of the operation, sliver unit 9 which has been passed by conveyor belt 14 to guide roller 16 is placed thereon and directed thereby toward a short conveyor belt 17 which is mounted on a pair of rollers 13 on carriage 15 laterally of guide roller 16 and extends in a direction transverse to the direction of conveyor belt 14. Underneath the outer reversing roller 18 of conveyor belt 17, carriage 15 also carries a pendulum-like feeding or depositing mechanism which consists of a frame 19, each end of which supports a pair of guide rollers 20 or 21, respectively. The corresponding guide rollers of each upper and lower pair 20 and 21 support a pair of conveyor belts 22, of which sides which face each other, parallel to each other. When the sliver unit 9 is passed downwardly from the outer roller 18 between belts 22, these two belts will carry the sliver unit downwardly toward container 10 and deposit the same therein. Frame 19 of the feeding mechanism which is pivotably suspended on carriage 15 is given a pendulum-like reciprocatory movement about the axis of rotation of the inner guide roller 20 by means of a lever system 23 so that the lower end of frame 19 carrying conveyor belts 22 will swing back and forth across the width of container 10. Conveyor belts 17 and 22 are preferably driven by the same driving mechanism as subsequently described, which also drives the lever mechanism 23 so that the pendulum-like reciprocation of frame 19 occurs at a certain ratio to the speed of movement of belts 17 and 22.

Since there should always be at least two containers 10 to permit one container to be filled while the sliver unit 9 which has previously been deposited in the other container 10 is fed therefrom to the next processing machine, one embodiment of the invention as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 provides that two large containers are placed side by side, and that two similar pendulum feeding units are mounted, on opposite sides of carriage 15. Each of these feeding units has its own conveyer belt 17 and its own pendulum structure including conveyer belts 22. The bracket which supports guide roller 13 should then be mounted on runway 12 so as to be pivotable at an angle of about a vertical from one diagonal position to the other so that after one container 10 is filled, the sliver unit may be shifted over from the conveyer belt 17 at one side of carriage 15 to the one at the other side so as to be passed by the conveyer belts 22 of the other feeder unit to the empty container 10. While this container is then being filled, the sliver unit 9 is passed by suitable guiding means from the first container 10 to the next processing machine. The only interruption in the operation of this machine therefore consists in the short manipulation of switching the sliver unit 9 to the other feeding unit on carriage 15 and in feeding the end of the sliver unit in the full container to the processing machine.

Instead of or aside from providing the containers 10 side by side, they may also be disposed behind each other. Any desired number of containers may thus be filled successively, and, to this end, it is only necessary to extend the length of runway 12 and conveyer belt 14. After filling one container 10 with the sliver unit 9, carriage 15 may be passed along runway 12 to. the next container, and thereafter to still further containers while the sliver unit from the previous containers is fed to the adjacent processing machine. Such successive depositing of sliver unit 9 in containers which are-disposed in a row behind each other also requires a single pendulumlike feeding unit only. In this case, the feeding operation of sliver unit 9 may also be entirely continuous and, after sliver unit 9 has once been properly placed upon guide rollers 13 and 16 and upon conveyer belt 17 and been inserted between conveyer belts 22, the entire subsequent feeding and depositing operation may proceed fully automatically.

Since, due to the pendulum action of the feed unit, the sliver unit 9 while being deposited in one container not only carries out a reciprocating movement across the width of the container but, due to the slow reciprocating movement of carriage also carries out a movement transverse to the direction of the pendulum movement along the length of the container, the composite movement of sliver unit 9 and its position within container 10 will be zigzag-shaped, as indicated in Fig. 1. In order to attain such movement and position, the conveyer belt 17 which is used for feeding the sliver unit 9 to the pendulum feeder as well as the conveyer belts 22 must be driven at a speed which complies with the movement of the traveling carriage 15. This is necessary since, at an equal speed of conveyer belt 17 and conveyer belts 22 with that of the feeding conveyer belt 14, the sliver unit 9 might become stretched if carriage 15 moves in the direction of feeding of conveyer belt 14 or might dam up if carriage 15 moves in the opposite direction. Therefore, conveyer belt 17 and conveyer belts 22of the pendulum unit should always be driven either at a lower speed or at a higher speed than conveyer belt 14 depending upon the direction of the travel of the carriage. For this purpose, the parts of the feed unit, the speed of which has to be thus controlled are preferably driven by conveyer belt 14 which feeds the sliver unit 9. A driving pulley 24 is therefore mounted in a suitable manner on carriage 15 so that conveyer belt 14 will be partly looped around it and be maintained in the proper looping position by a pair of tension pulleys 25 at both sides of and parallel to drive pulley 24. The diameter of drive pulley 24 and its driving transmission to conveyer belts 17 and 22 should be made so as to comply with the speed of conveyer belt 14.; This arrangement of the driving elements for thependulum unit permits. the delivery speed of the sliver unit to begincreased or reduced by an amount'which'is equal to that of the'advance or the retraction of the traveling carriage 15.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood that it is in no way limited to the details of such embodiments but is capable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, for example, instead of providing one pendulum feed unit which deposits the sliver unit successively in one container after another which are disposed in a row behind each other, or instead of providing two pendulum feed units which deposit the sliver unit first in one container and then in a laterally adjacent container, it is also possible according to the invention to provide only one pendulum feed unit which is capable of traveling both back and forth in the longitudinal direction of conveyor belt 14 and from one container to another or more containers in line with the first container, and of also traveling in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of conveyer belt 14 to one or more laterally adjacent containers. Of course, this would require a runway which is movable in a direction transverse to the direction of travel of carriage 15 in a manner similar to that known in connection with traveling cranes. Conveyer belt 14 for feeding the sliver unit 9 to the pendulum unit must then be guided so as to be able to follow such transverse shifting movement.

Furthermore, the mechanism according to the invention may be applied at various points both in the combing room and in the roving room, and may be easily adapted to' the different requirements of each respective processing machine.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim 1. In an apparatus for conveying textile fibers from one processing machine to the next processing machine: at least two containers arranged at the inlet side of said next machine; first conveying means for conveying at least one sliver from said one processing machine to a point above said containers; depositing means spaced from said containers for depositing said sliver in said containers; said depositing means comprising a runway above said containers, a travelling carriage movable on said runway along a first line, and at least one pendulum-like feed unit pivotally suspended on one end of said carriage; means for pivoting said feed unit back and forth above said container along a second line at an angle to said first line; second conveying means for conveying said sliver from said first conveying means to said feed unit; and'driving means for moving said carriage back and forth above said container along said first line and for driving said feed unit and said second conveying means.

2. In an apparatus for conveying textile fibers from one processing machine to the next processing machine: at least two containers arranged at the inlet side of said next machine; first conveying means for conveying at least one sliver from said one processing machine to a point above said containers: depositing means spaced from said containers for depositing said sliver in said containers; said depositing means comprising a runway above said containers, a travelling carriage movable on said runway along a first line, and at least one pendulumlike feed unit comprising a frame pivotally suspended on one end of said carriage; second conveying means for conveying the sliver from said first conveying means to said feed unit; means for pivoting said feed unit back and forth above said containers along a second line at an angle to said first line; guide rollers mounted near the opposite ends of said frame; a pair of conveyor belts on said guide rollers for carrying said sliver between them for depositing said sliver first in one and then in the other one of said containers; and driving means for moving said carriage back and forth above said containers along said first lineand for driving said feed unit and said second conveying means.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, which includes additional driving means for driving said second conveying means and the driving means for said conveyor belts in conformity with the variation in the feeding speed of said sliver as caused by the movement back and forth of said carriage.

4. In an apparatus for conveying textile fibers from one processing machine to the next processing machine: at least two containers arranged at the inlet side of said next machine; first conveying means for conveying at least one sliver from said one processing machine to a point above said containers; depositing means spaced from said containers for depositing said sliverin said containers; said depositing means comprising a runway above said containers, a travelling carriage movable on said runway along a first line, and at least one pendulumlike feed unit pivotally suspended on one end of said carriage; means for pivoting said feed unit back and forth above said container along a second line at an angle to said first line; second conveying means for conveying said sliver from said first conveying means to said feed unit; first driving means for moving said carriage back and forth; and second driving means independent of said first driving means for driving said feed unit and said second conveying means.

5. In an apparatus for conveying textile fibers from one processing machine to the next processing machine: at least two containers arranged at the inlet side of said next machine; first conveying means for conveying at least one sliver from said one processing machine to a point above said containers; depositing means spaced from said containers for depositing said sliver in said containers; said depositing means comprising a runway above said containers, a travelling carriage movable on said runway along a first line, and at least one pendulum-like feed unit pivotally suspended on one end of said carriage; means for pivoting said feed unit back and forth above said container along a second line at an angle to said first line; second conveying means for conveying said sliver from said first conveying means to said feed unit; driving means for moving said carriage back and forth above said container along said first line and for driving said feed unit and said second conveying means; said driving means including a drive pulley rotatably mounted on said carriage; said first conveying means including a conveyor belt'partly looped around said drive pulley so as to rotate the same; and means for connecting said drive pulley to said second conveying means and said belt driving means for driving the same.

6. In an apparatus for conveying textile fibers from one processing machine to the next processing machine: at least two containers arranged at the inlet side of said next machine and also arranged laterally adjacent to each other; first conveying'means for conveying at least one sliver from said one processing machine to a point above said containers; depositing means spaced from said containers for depositing said sliver in said containers; said depositing means comprising a runway above said containers, a travelling carriage movable on said runway along a first line, means for moving said runway along a second line transverse to said first line, and at least one pendulum-like feed unit pivotally suspended on one end of said carriage; means for pivoting said feed unit back and forth above said container along a line at a right angle to said first line; second conveying means for conveying said sliver from said first conveying means to said feed unit; and driving means for moving said carriage back and forth above said container along said first line and for driving said feed unit and said second conveying means. a

7. In an apparatus for conveying textile fibers from one processing machine to the next processing machine: at least tWo serially arranged containers located at the inlet side of said next machine; first conveying means for conchine to a point above said containers; depositing means spaced from said containers for depositing said sliver in said containers; said depositing means comprising a runway extending above said containers at least to the rear end of the serially last container, a travelling carriage movable on said runway along a first line, and at least one pendulum-like feed unit pivotally suspended on one end of said carriage; at least two of said containers being disposed adjacent to and behind each other as seen in the direction of movement of said carriage; means for pivoting said feed unit back and forth above said container along a second line at an angle to said first line; second conveying means for conveying said sliver from said first conveying means to said feed unit; and driving means for moving said carriage back and forth above said container along said first line and for driving said feed unit and said second conveying means, said carriage together with said pendulum-like feed unit being movable along said runway from a 'point above one of said containers to a point above the other container to permit one container to be filled with said sliver While the sliver in the other container is being fed to the next processing machine.

8. A method of conveying textile fibers in a continuous manner from one processing machine to the next processing machine, which includes the steps of: combining a plurality of substantially parallel slivers into a sliver strand, conveying said sliver strand'in a substantially continuous manner to ,a station near the inlet side of said next processing machine, depositing said sliver strand at said station successively in form of a plurality of piles .of zigzag-shaped superimposed folds, and successively picking up the folds of the fiber strand from the respective completed pile nearest to said next processing machine and feeding them successively into said next processing machine While at the same time fiber strand sections from said one processing machine are being deposited at said station in form of an additional pile of superimposed zigzag-shaped folds.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 255,473 Tatham Mar. 28, 1882 2,665,453 Senior et a1. Jan. 12, 1954 2,720,006 Carter et a1. "a Oct. 11, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 347,448 Great Britain Apr. 30, 1931 372,624 Germany Mar. 31, 1923 

